Am i afraid of what's about to happen to me?

Homily 

4th Sunday of Advent B

24 December 2023

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

Am I afraid of what's about to happen to me?

Two key phrases leap out from the Gospel of the Annunciation.  Do not be afraid!  Let it be done! The first is spoken by a fearsome Archangel; the second by a fearless maiden.

From this Gospel emerges my final question of Advent.  Am I afraid of what's about to happen to me?

I'll admit.  I'm quite afraid of Christmas.  I always have been.  I'm afraid of not being ready, of missing it.  Nothing turns me into a grinch faster than asking me this - Father, are you ready for Christmas?  What am I most scared of?  That is my heart isn't changed this Christmas, it never will be.

Yet it's backward to think this way, as if it's within my power to prepare perfectly for Christmas.  I can't build a place in my soul for Christ to be born, any more than David could build the Lord a worthy temple.  I'm not ready, and I'm not worthy. There I said it.

Even Mary couldn't build a worthy place for Christ.  The difference is that she was ready to admit this.  Mary fearlessly gives permission to let it be done, and so has the best response to our Advent question.

I'm terrified of what's about to happen to me this Christmas.  Yet Mary isn't afraid.  Which is why I must turn to her, the savior of my Advent, at this final hour, and permit her to say fiat for me.

She's my only hope to not be afraid of what's about to happen.